Monday, November 07, 2005

(Extract of) interview beteen Africa Today and Edna Adan Ismail

Africa Today: What about the United Nations? You would like to be a member of course. How is it possible that they continue to say that Mogadishu is entitled to keep a seat in the UN while there is no effective government in this place? This is a mystery.

Edna Adan: It is not a mystery. I think that the United Nations, the guardian of human rights, of justice, of fairness, of law and order in the world, are the ones that are really openly hostile to Somaliland. The UN, that body formed by nations that should be well intentioned is the discouraging and damaging the stability of Somaliland. And we challenge the United Nations to come and find out what is the reality of Somaliland, not to be biased against Somaliland. I think the United Nations has been influenced by Somalia and it is refusing to understand the reality of what Somaliland is all about. And we appeal to the United Nations member states to influence the administration of the United Nations, to practice what the United Nations has been mandated to do.

Africa Today: There has been no fact-finding mission from the UN like the one the African Union sent recently to Somaliland...

Edna Adan: The representative of the Secretary General of the UN has not been to Somaliland. He gets reports from officers who visit Somaliland, who have their own interest to protect. They are based in Nairobi. They are not resident in Somaliland, they are not resident in Somali territory; they get allowances for not being resident in Somaliland. They are spending the taxpayers' money that was meant for development aid for personal reasons and personal expenses. As Somaliland's Foreign minister I am not allowed to present my case to the United Nations. I am not allowed to present my case to the Security Council. I am not allowed to present my case to the Secretary General. Can you tell me that is justice? I do not think that is justice. That is a bias; that is discrimination; that is unfair and that is abuse of the human rights of the people of Somaliland. If they are supportive of justice, then they should give me my day in court. They should listen to my case. My people have a right to be heard. That is all I am asking for. We are not forcing anybody to recognize us. But we are saying: give us a chance to have our day in court, to hear our plea, to hear our case.

Africa Today: Is it possible that some countries hostile to Somaliland have enough power to lobby the entire international community?

Edna Adan: Yes. Somalia that has killed Somalilanders and put them in mass graves and it is hostile to Somaliland.

Africa Today: But Somalia is not an entity anymore.

Edna Adan: It has supporters and has a voice and it is the one that is heard. The criminals, the warlords and the killers with their hands dripping with blood of innocent people, are accepted to sit in the United Nations; they are accepted to sit in the African Union; they are accepted to sit in the Arab League! So where is justice when the criminal is heard and the victim is denied being heard?

(Full intervew to be found on http://www.radiosomaliland.com/index.php?itemid=206)

1 Comments:

For info: Somalia's biodiversity at riskhttp://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20051128-041818-8685rAn environmentalist with the underground Somali Green Party, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "It is unlikely that Somali warlords and vessel operators will support a return to legal operations whereby the Somali state would license an access to its water zone via a legal and transparent process." Somali Green Party officials recently reported to the European Greens' global security center that a southern Somali warlord recently provided a London-based licensing corporation access to Somali waters in return for receiving royalties from the corporation for its operations in Somali offshore waters. The Somali Green Party is investigating reports that Djibouti, Sudan, Kenya, Eritrea, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Dubai and some Far Eastern countries are also involved in the illicit fishing trade.